Shiny Brite

Because of our ongoing remodel, we didn't do a whole lot of holiday decorating this year. We barely got a (borrowed) tree up in time for Santa, and kept the ornaments simple and non-breakable, because of Anthony's appetite for destruction. In fact, all of our decorating was limited to the family room, but I am so proud of our little tree and our handmade ornaments and vintage touches. To me it was simple, festive, and sentimental, and even in the midst of the remodel debris and paint fumes, it has probably been my favorite Christmas decorating endeavor to date. It was fun making our little ornaments together, and I look forward to doing it all again next year. Click pictures to enlarge...

Here is our little tree, decorated with the paper chain Rosie and I made, and some of our paper ornaments. We would sit and make a couple new ornaments every night and add them to the tree. I placed the tree on my great-grandmother's walnut gateleg table so Anthony couldn't reach it. I used an antique French linen mangle cloth that normally serves as a tablecloth as a tree skirt.




On the mantel I had pre-lit fake garland, studded with pine cones from the yard. I put a few crystal bowls up there and filled them with more lights and vintage glass ornaments that were my grandma's and my mom's. Very pretty at night.



This was the special kind of ornament we created for this year. I'm not sure how many we ended up doing. I used eight or ten shades of card stock, some paper sample swatches from work, a few Christmas cards we got in the mail, and some uncoated paper catalogs.





I hung a wreath at each large window in the family room, decorated with only a plaid ribbon and a sprinkling of tiny vintage ornaments. They used to be in my grandma's advent calendar. I wish I knew what happened to the calendar and how I only wound up with the little doo-dads. I also hung a wreath in the bathroom window, over the, ahem, toilet. I decorated it with a plaid bow and vintage horse show ribbons.





And that is the extent of our holiday decorating for 2007. Next year, it's Katie bar the door....!